Adventures in Cottontail Pines - The Summer Princess

by TK Wade

  *****

  When it was nearly early afternoon, Flopsy was nearing Oak Pass with Goober. She had been walking rather slowly and quietly. This perplexed the brown rabbit because she was so excited about being Summer Princess just the previous day. He asked her, “Flopsy, if we don’t pick up our pace, they might begin rehearsals without us. Is there anything the matter?”

  The white, lop-eared rabbit answered weakly, “No, I’m fine.”

  Goober stopped for a moment when he saw a creepy bug on the path and took special care to go around it. This was very common for him, because he did not like creepy things. He caught back up with Flopsy and said, “You really sound out of it. Are you sick? Did you forget to eat a healthy breakfast? What about your morning stretches? Did you forget to do those?”

  Flopsy huffed. “I never do stretches. I’m not special needs like you.”

  The brown rabbit held up his warning finger. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. All those routines I have still make for a pleasant mood during the day.”

  Flopsy suddenly changed the topic, “Goober, how do you think I would look with “up-ears” like you? Do you think it would look good or silly?”

  Goober could only blink at her query at first, but he still took the question seriously. “Your ears compliment the rest of you. Lop-eared rabbits are more filled out than rabbits like me. Little “up-ears” might look silly on you.”

  The girl snapped, “Are you calling me fat?!”

  Goober nearly tripped backwards. “What? No! I- I didn’t mean that. What I- what I meant was—.”

  Flopsy sighed and kept on walking. “I know what you meant. Never mind.” They both walked to Oak Pass with Goober feeling a little nervous after the reaction he got.

  Unlike the previous day, there was quite a lot of commotion around the oak tree. Everyone was preparing the area for the upcoming Summer Jamboree. There were banners being hung everywhere, stands were being set up to sell merchandise, and the parade floats were being built.

  They were also preparing the special dress that would be worn by the Summer Princess. Gumdrop the mouse had practically taken over that operation. She was squeaking out orders to the two porcupines working on the dress. “It needs more flowers down the back, and the ones on the side need to be fresher!”

  Pinny and Sue were getting a bit fluttered by the mouse’s constant suggestions. The latter tried to make a point, “You know that we are usually the ones in charge of the dress.”

  Gumdrop snapped back, “Well, that’s just tough! This is Flopsy we’re talking about! We can’t have a dress with wilted flowers on them! And also the hem is up too high! Make it longer! It’s got to be the biggest beautiful dress in the whole world!”

  Pinny whispered to her fellow seamstress, “For a little mouse, she’s rather scary.” Sue nodded in agreement.

  Blacky walked up to the two approaching rabbits sucking on his thumb. Flopsy cocked her head, “Blacky, haven’t you grown out of that habit?”

  The skunk popped his thumb out and grumpily said, “I hit my thumb with a hammer while trying to put up a banner. Stupid hammer!”

  Goober raised a finger and said, “You should always be very careful when using a hammer, Blacky.”

  All this did was make the skunk more irritated. “And if you were here to tell me that earlier, maybe I wouldn’t have hurt myself!”

  Flopsy stood between them. “You two, cut it out! I need to find Mister Hooty. Blacky, have you seen him?”

  The skunk nodded and pointed over to the parade area. “He’s over there. They are doing dress rehearsals soon. I think Gumdrop is about done pestering the porcupines.”

  The white rabbit nodded. “You two just mingle about. I’m gonna go talk to Mister Hooty.” The two boys did as told, and Flopsy found the owl.

  He seemed very happy to see her. “There you are, Flopsy! I bet you’re excited.”

  The rabbit forced a smile. She had still not forgotten about what Wily had said. “Yes, sir. What should I do?”

  “We just want to see how you look in your new dress as we walk down the center of Cottontail Pines. Oh, yes. About that: did you know Gumdrop has been pestering Pinny and Sue? I’m her teacher, and even I was talked down when I tried to control her.”

  Flopsy blushed. “She’s kind of dreamed about doing this for me for as long as I can remember. It might be best to just let her do what she wants.”

  The owl ruffled his feathers. “Very well then. Here she comes now.”

  Gumdrop was escorting Pinny and Sue over to Flopsy. The bunny marveled at how pretty the dress looked without even being finished. It seemed to be made out of the prettiest pink fabric and had many flowers adorning it from top to bottom.

  The mouse hugged Flopsy and said, “It looks great, doesn’t it? It’ll look even better tomorrow! You have me to thank for that. They fought me on a few things, so I had to put my foot down.”

  Flopsy beamed. “It’s beautiful, Gumdrop.”

  “Go on, girls! Help her into it!”

  Pinny and Sue helped Flopsy into the unfinished, yet still beautiful dress and even held up a mirror for her to see herself. The rabbit nearly melted at the sight of her in the pretty dress. The pink flowers completely accentuated her white fur, and made her look many times more adorable. For a moment, she forgot about her earlier woes and said, “I can’t wait to walk in this tomorrow.”

  Mister Hooty chuckled and urged her over to the main path. “There’s no better time like the present. There’s already a number of people here to see you. Why don’t you walk a small ways down this street so we can see how you’ll look?”

  Gumdrop dashed away to pull Blacky and Goober over to watch as if it was their civic duty. Both the skunk and rabbit did not mind coming to watch, but they were a little perturbed at being led by a little mouse in such a way.

  Flopsy was in her own world. To her, it was not today, but rather tomorrow. She was in the Summer Jamboree parade and everyone was watching her. The bunny imagined herself amidst a crowd of cheering animals as she began walking down the path. Gumdrop, Goober, and Blacky cheered for her as she walked by.

  She smiled and waved at them as she planned to do to everyone else; unfortunately, that smile slipped away when she saw Wily chuckling just up ahead. As a resident of Cottontail Pines, he would be invited as well. Everything he had said to her came flooding back, and she soon began losing her footing.

  As she turned her head to look at the mean fox, her right ear came into contact with her foot. She stepped on it and tripped forward. She then accidently stepped on her other ear causing her to spin around as her dress started to tangle around her. Her friends ran to help her, but it was too late; Flopsy had fallen flat on her face.

  Wily was laughing as hard as he could. “I knew it! You can’t be the Summer Princess with ears like that!”

  Everyone–including Mister Hooty–ran to help Flopsy up; however, the bruised-nosed bunny hopped away as Wily continued to laugh. Goober called out to her, “Flopsy, come back! Don’t listen to him!”

  Mister Hooty grumbled. “That Wily is nothing but trouble. I’m going to have a long talk with him.”

  Blacky stomped his foot and yelled, “Stupid fox! He had no right to laugh at her like that! I have half a mind to go over there, raise my tail, and—!”

  Goober tapped the skunk on the shoulder to interrupt. “It might be best to let Mister Hooty deal with him. I’m going to go over and talk to her. Everyone wait here.” Goober hopped over to confront Flopsy behind the oak tree.

  The brown rabbit found Flopsy crying into her paws. He slowly approached her and said, “Flopsy, it really isn’t as bad at you think. Wily was just being mean. You’ll still look great tomorrow. Flopsy?”

  The white rabbit suddenly turned around and yelled, “Just be quite, Goober! You don’t know what it’s like to have long, stupid ears! You don’t know what it’s like to grow up tripping on them several times a day!” She jabbed her finger into the now
trembling rabbit’s chest. “Everyone saw me make a fool of myself, so don’t tell me everything isn’t as bad as I think!”

  Goober was wide-eyed and quivering. Flopsy had never talked to him like that, and he was entirely unprepared for it. Moments after it was all over, the white rabbit realized what she had done and said, “Oh, gosh! Goober, I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? Are you gonna throw up?””

  He shook his head. “N-no. I’ll be okay.”

  “Are you sure? Goober, I was just upset. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” She hugged him tightly which made the already jittery rabbit squirm. He never liked being touched, but he was too startled to fight it.

  He muttered, “I understand, Flopsy.”

  Blacky and Gumdrop slowly approached. The mouse said to her, “Mister Hooty gave that fox a good talk. He won’t bother you tomorrow. You’ll still be a great Summer Princess at the Jamboree.”

  The skunk added, “I don’t even know why they let him stay here! It should be a crime!”

  Flopsy sniffled and stood before her friends. “I know I shouldn’t have listened to him, but I’m still worried about tripping over them tomorrow. What do I do?”

  Goober replied, “I wish there was a way to help out.”

  Gumdrop blurted out, “Of course, we can help her out! Everybody follow me! I’ll show you what we’re gonna do! Flopsy is gonna be the best Summer Princess ever, and nothing’s gonna stop it from happening!”

  *****

  The next day came and all the plans for the Summer Jamboree were complete. Everyone from all over Cottontail Pines were there to celebrate the new season with games, shops, and of course, a parade.

  As was the tradition, one animal from Cottontail Pines would be selected to be the Summer Princess. She would lead the parade and spend the entire day greeting people, handing out flowers, and spreading cheer throughout the event. On this day, Flopsy was the Summer Princess. She stood at the head of the parade in one of the most beautiful dresses that had ever been designed for the occasion.

  Flopsy looked out at all her friends and family as she held on tightly to her basket of flowers. She saw her parents with little Lemmy in mother’s arms. There was Mrs. Peggy and Mister Rupert with all his possum children waiting for her to walk by them. She could not have been happier.

  The band began to play, and before everyone began to march, her three best friends surrounded her. Blacky and Goober took hold of each of her ears while Gumdrop took hold of her dress. Together they walked down the path through Cottontail Pines.

  Flopsy was free to wave to all her friends and family as she marched at the head of the parade. Everyone seemed to agree that she was the most beautiful bunny there. Only Wily stood on the side with a frown.

  When Flopsy approached the fox, she stopped and handed him one of the flowers. Wily took it, but he seemed rather confused as to why she did it. Flopsy just smiled and continued on with the parade. Wily looked at the flower for a moment and then walked away. No one really knew how it had affected him.

  Flopsy went on to have a wonderful day. She went about the Summer Jamboree and spread cheer to everyone she met, but more importantly, she did it with her best friends. There were few who could deny that she was the best Summer Princess that they had ever had.

  The end.